


Been There

by MelyndaR



Category: Little House on the Prairie (TV), Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-06 07:23:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 6,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3125954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carrie goes blind due to an accident, and the Kendalls and Garveys go back to Walnut Grove to help out - with unforseen results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**This is going to be very AU, just warning you. Simply because it's set in 1891, as if Walnut Grove hadn't been destroyed the previous year.**

* * *

 

_Dear Adam and Mary,_

_Carrie was in an accident last week. Ever since, we haven't been able to get through to her. Not even Hester Sue can help her. Charles and I believe she could benefit greatly from your help. I know it is a lot to ask, but please come as soon as possible._

_Fondest wishes,_

_Caroline Ingalls_


	2. Chapter 2

Mankato, Minnesota

April 1, 1891

The strange letter they had received less than a month ago left a dozen questions and more dancing around in Adam Kendall's head. What had happened, and how were he and Mary going to be able to help where her own parents couldn't seem to?

He could find only one answer to that question, and it plagued him endlessly as they walked to Jonathan's. Adam had wired ahead and asked Jonathan if he would be willing to take them the last leg of their journey. The old family friend had, of course, agreed.

As Adam led Mary up the walk towards Jonathan's livery, he hoped and prayed harder than he ever had before that he was wrong. Oh, he hoped he was wrong.

A jovial greeting from Jonathan and Andy lightened his mood a little, and Jonathan asked them if they wanted anything to eat, or maybe to rest.

"No thank you, Mr. Garvey." Mary spoke up. "I'd like to get back and see my sister, if you don't mind."

"Which sister?" Andy asked, looking concerned. "Is she okay?"

"I'll tell you what we know on the way." Adam promised.

"Can I come, Pa," Andy pled. "Please?"

Jonathan's red brow had knit together at the mention of trouble. "If you're going, you'd better get your things together quickly. We'll be staying overnight at Laura and Almonzo's."

Andy nodded and dashed off. Jonathan nodded toward a bench.

"Why don't you two sit a spell and I'll go get the team ready? You both look as though you haven't slept in days."

Mary sat down wearily and Adam took his place beside her. When Jonathan had disappeared, Mary leaned over and put her head on Adam's shoulder.

"I wish we knew what was really going on." Mary worried.

Adam could tell she was worried without looking at her, by the tone in her voice. Funny, he had never really learned to lean completely on his sight again. He knew, too, because he was worried also.

"Adam," Mary started hesitantly. "You don't think…" She trailed off, unable to finish her thought. Adam knew, though, that her thoughts were the same as his.

"I don't know." he answered. "And we won't know until we get there, so you might as well quit worrying over the maybes."

"But, Adam, they mentioned Hester Sue, not Doc Baker. Why would they do that?" She was on the verge of tears.

"We don't know yet, Mary. You have to calm down. Please. We'll be there soon. For all we know, Carrie's all ready up and back to running around the town."

"Or sitting in Ma's big rocking chair screaming at the unfairness of the world."

Adam sighed almost imperceptibly, and brushed away the tear from her cheek that had dared to fall from his wife's long lashes. "Everything is going to be all right."


	3. Chapter 3

Walnut Grove, Minnesota

April 1, 1891

Mary walked up to the Ingalls' house with Adam and Andy close beside her. Jonathan had taken them straight there, and then taken their things to the boarding house. She could hear Albert and James as they came running from the direction of the fields. Cassandra and Grace came from the direction of the barn. All of them headed for the trio that stood in the yard. Cassandra and Grace both flung themselves at their unsuspecting sister. Cassandra burst into tears. Adam and Andy both started trying to get information from the boys as Mary crouched down in front of her sisters.

"Hey. Hey, Cassy," She rubbed her sister's back, surprised at the outburst from the teenager. "It's all right. It's all right."

Cassandra wrapped her arms around Mary and held on tight as she sobbed out, "It's awful, Mary, just so awful! It's like she's given up on everything but being angry and I can't help her, and nobody can, and I hate it! Please make her better, Mary, I just know you can do it."

"Shh, honey, everything is going to be all right." Mary fought her own tears even as she spoke. "What happened, sweetie? What happened to Carrie?"

Cassandra was too overcome to say more, so Grace filled her in. "Carrie fell down the steps of the icehouse and hit her head. It was cut real bad. Doc said it's the con-scussion-?"

"Concussion." Mary prompted.

Grace continued. "Yeah. It's the concussion that made her that way."

"What way?" Mary probed, desperately praying she was wrong.

Grace paused before answering, as if she was surprised that Mary didn't know, "Blind."


	4. Chapter 4

Andy approached the house cautiously from behind Adam and Mary. They'd been told by Albert that Mr. and Mrs. Ingalls were inside with Carrie, who was "having a rough time with it." As Andy heard what he thought was a hairbrush hitting the interior wall of the house, he thought that maybe Albert had put it lightly.

Adam and Mary seemed unfazed now, though. After the initial shock had worn off, they had collected their wits about them and here they were, outwardly prepared to teach what they had taught once more. Adam opened the door and Andy saw a plate of food whiz through the room and hit another wall, maybe an inch from where Adam stood.

Adam looked at the mashed potatoes sliding down the wall, a distinctly startled look on his face, before he sighed, straightened himself up to his full height, and said in a surprisingly board monotone, "Class is now in session." Then he turned to Mr. and Mrs. Ingalls, saying, "You probably won't like my methods. It would probably be best if you left."

Mr. and Mrs. Ingalls slipped out the door without a word.

"Adam?" Carrie whispered. Confusion than anger flooded her pretty, heart-shaped face, and she screamed at him, "I don't need you here!"

Under the cover of the following blood-curdling yells, Adam looked at Mary and Andy heard him tell her to go to the boarding house and visit with Laura. She nodded and left without a word. She was barely holding herself together, and both Adam and Andy knew it. Then it was just the three of them in the house.

Adam leaned close to his ear and whispered, "She probably won't listen to me because I'm closely related, not until she gets past the anger. I'll need someone's help. Are you up to it?"

Andy nodded, trying to push away a boatload of trepidation. "What do I do?"

"For starters, she cleans that up." Adam nodded toward the food sliding off the wall and pooling onto the floor.

Andy looked at the mess, looked at the screaming young woman whose unseeing eyes blazed with emotions that Andy had no hope of identifying, and looked back at Adam, who was shutting and locking the door. He had effectively deprived Carrie of any hope of an easy exit. "What do you suggest?"

"Get her attention and get her to get a rag. By herself."

Andy looked back at Carrie. Here went nothing. Andy took a deep breath and screamed, his pitch a notch louder than "his" student's, "The dog thanks you for thinking of him!"

Carrie stopped and looked in his general direction. "Who are you and what are you doing in my house?"

"It's Andy Garvey and I'm here to help you."

"And what does the dog have to do with the fact that you think I need help?"

"You were trying to give him his dinner, weren't you?" He asked innocently, then glanced at Adam before tacking onto the end of his statement, "Pity you won't have any dinner yourself."

"What?"

"That was your plate and you threw it, so that's where we're at."

"What sort of a teacher are you? And why do you think I need your help?"

"I'm not a teacher. I'm a teacher's helper. No, maybe I am a teacher. I would be a primary teacher though."

"Why?" Carrie snarled.

"Because primary teachers spend as much time of the student's first year of school teaching their students how to behave in a classroom as they do actually teaching them. If ever I am a teacher, I'd like to be the type who thinks of life as their classroom. And by the looks of things, someone needs to teach you how to behave in it."

"I. Don't. Need. Your. Help."

"All right. Fine. Prove it. If you don't need my help, that means you can do everything by yourself. So clean up your mess and prove it to me."

"Only if Adam goes out."

Andy shot wide eyes to the other man. What was he supposed to say to that?

"I can do that." Adam said. "As a matter of fact, I think I'll go to the barding house and wash the dust off. I'll come check on your progress after my own dinner."

"What about mine?" Carrie whined.

"You can eat if you feel like making something." Adam answered her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You might be nice and see to your visitor as well. After you clean up the food on the floor. Ants will start coming after it in a minute."

Then he left the two of them alone. The sound of the shutting door seemed to echo off the walls and ring in Andy's brain.

"Back to the business at hand." Andy finally said briskly. "Don't tell me you don't know how to do it. I know you've watched Mary and Adam. Right now you just want to be difficult."

Carrie blinked at him, startled by his frankness. Then she eased carefully out of the chair, flailing her arms in front of her. Andy knew that wasn't what you were supposed to do.

"Quit swinging your arms, you're going to hit something. Or someone."

Surprisingly, she obeyed, putting one arm at her side, leaving the other one held out still in front of her as a precaution. She swallowed and said hoarsely, "Is there anything in my way?"

Andy looked around, willing to cooperate with her. "No. Everything is where it's always been."

She moved carefully, but with a surety that surprised him. She went straight to the desired spot in the kitchen and got a rag.

"That's a lot of food. You'll probably want a bucket to put it in."

She retraced her steps and got it, then slowly made her way towards the door. The sound of her shuffling feet filled the emptiness between the two of them.

"Don't shuffle. You look like a helpless invalid."

Carrie traced her fingers lightly along the wall until she felt some of the food, and began to clean it, then she answered him, "I am an invalid."

"You're only saying that because you want to feel sorry for yourself and you want everyone else to feel sorry for you too."

"That's not true!"

"Then why so much trouble?" Carrie didn't answer him. "Your mother was crying." Andy murmured softly. Seeing he'd gotten her attention, he continued, "Cassandra's a wreck. No one wants to be inside this house with you. Mary came here too, and Adam wouldn't even let her stay. And it's your fault."

"I don't want them to see me like this." Carrie sounded like she, too, was about to cry.

"Like what?"

"Blind!"

"Charlotte Gray said something that I think sort of fits this: You can kid the world, but not your sister. She knows you're hurting and she wants to help you. All of us do. They'll help you if you'll let them."

"But I don't need help!" Carrie persisted. "See?" She held up the dishrag while motioning to the now-clean floor. "I'm perfectly capable."

She stood up shakily and started toward the kitchen to put the rag away. Andy knew she was smiling. "This doesn't make any sense." Andy persisted. "Why cause all this trouble?"

"I don't know. Just because I learn to do things again that I all ready knew how to do, that doesn't mean I have to be happy."

"So… You're making sure everyone else is miserable, too? What does that accomplish?"

Carrie shrugged, ashamed of herself. "I didn't know it was that bad. I'm just scared that if they get to go back to the way things were before, that they'll forget all about me."

"You can go back to the way things were before, too, you know."

She scoffed. "No, I can't."

"And why not? You just proved you ca-"

He stopped talking and hurried to her side when she tripped and fell.

"See!" She exploded. "I can't!"

"Can you or can't you?" He yelled right back. "Make up your mind, Caroline Ingalls! Do you need help or don't you? Because if you're going to sit in that chair for the rest of your life and make those closest to you miserable, I will have nothing to do with it! And I won't let you do it, for that matter. I'll tell them, I will!"

"I just fell!" Carrie screamed, fighting tears.

"So you do need help?"

"No!"

"Then there's no need for you to act the way you do."

"My life fell apart! I'll never be able to do what I wanted to do! I think I'm entitled to the occasional temper tantrum!"

Andy raised an eyebrow, knowing it came out in his voice. "So you admit you're acting childish?"

"Occasionally." Carrie muttered.

"Well stop. It's stupid! Your family would never really forget you, you know that. Did they forget Mary?"

"They sent her away." Carrie curled into a miserable ball and whispered.

The light bulb went off in Andy's head. He crouched down beside Carrie, who was still sitting on the floor. "But Adam and Mary came to you this time. Doesn't that nullify that concern?"

"I guess. Maybe." She turned unseeing yet fear-filled eyes towards him. "What if they're here to take me back with them, Adam and Mary, I mean?"

"To New York City? No." He sat on the floor beside her, since she showed no real inclination to get back up. "What did you hope to accomplish by throwing fits anyway, isn't that what got Mary sent away in the first place?"

"I thought if they were busy keeping everything in tact, that they wouldn't think about schools in Iowa or wherever."

He nudged her with his shoulder. "Your concussion made you a little loopy, Carrie. That's the most twisted logic I have ever heard."

She hung her head. "I should probably stop, huh?"

"I think so, yes. It's not helping a thing." He paused before adding, "It made for an interesting entrance to your house, though."

"Do I want to know?"

"Adam's pants were almost hit by flying potatoes."

Carrie cringed.

"Now, what can't you do ever again?"

She looked at him as if were obvious, and he considered for the first time how expression-filled her face was, sight or no sight. "I can't teach like I wanted to, I can't have a family like I wanted, I probably won't even be able to leave my parents household. I'll be a burden for the rest of my life."

"Ho. Whoa. Hold on. Stop right there. You won't be able to teach? What did Mary do  _right after_ she left the blind school in Iowa?"

"She went to the Dakotas."

"To do what?"

"Teach."

"And after that, what happened?"

"Got married. But Adam was blind too then! It's different! No one else here is blind, which means they won't want me!"

"Not if you're a recluse holed up in this cabin they won't. Adam and Mary were and are fiercely independent people, who each lead lives of their own, very much outside of their parents' houses. Why should you be special?"

"I - I never thought about that."

"Really? Well, you should. Next to nobody is going to pity you in this town." He made his tone softer, as if he was making a joke. "Your sister kinda ruined that for you. Now come on, you look like a wild thing, sprawled across the floor like you are." He got to his feet, and grabbed hold of her hands, helping her stand. "When was the last time you did anything to make yourself decent?"

She blushed. "A few weeks, I guess. Unless throwing the hairbrush counts?" She groaned aloud. "I have a lot to make up for. And explain. And apologize for. Oh, Andy, I've been absolutely awful to everybody. I'm tired of being upset."

Andy allowed his eyes to roam her form, from her matted hair to her nightgown and bare feet. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you look awful too."

A sad smile flitted across her face.

"Now what do you say we show Adam up?" he asked cheerfully.

"By  _we_ ," Carrie put away the rag. "I can only assume that you mean  _me."_

"I'd be more likely to burn food than you would." Andy pointed out merrily.

Carrie smiled and walked toward the kitchen. She had done a one-eighty since he walked in the door. "I'll put on toast for the both of us. Will that be okay?"

"For both of us?"

"Adam said to see to my own visitor."

"He doesn't actually expect you to do anything." Andy told her slowly.

"That's the way to show him up, isn't it?" Carrie asked.

Andy jumped when Carrie wrapped her hand around a knife. "Should I do that?"

Carrie turned to him, a smirk on her lips and merriment on her eyes. She brandished it in front of her. "Scared?"

"No, hey, watch ou- OW!" He yelped as if she had gotten him with it.

She gasped. "Andy! Are you okay?"

"No!" He yelped. "You got me right-" His hands flashed out to grab her around the waist and she screamed as he tickled her. "here."

"Oh, you! Let go of me, Andy Garvey! Let go!" She screamed with laughter. "I can't breath. Andy. Andy!"

He released her and fell into a fit of laughter himself. She slapped him before turning around and starting their toast, then said seriously, "I'm going to go get dressed."

So, three quarters of an hour later, that was how Adam found them: sitting at the table, in perfect civility, eating buttered toast and talking about how exactly they were going to show him up.

Hearing laughter inside, distinctly feminine laughter, Adam opened the door to the cabin, hoping to get a peek as to what was causing the miracle before Andy saw him. However, neither of them noticed him for a few minutes, and, during their oblivion, Adam had time to get over the shock of seeing Carrie up and decent, having apparently made something of the food order, and laughing over something Andy had just said. Then he got a good look at Andy.

Adam smiled and whispered to himself, "I thought so."


	5. Chapter 5

The Kendalls, the Wilders, and Jonathan were sitting around the table in the boarding house dining room drinking coffee later that night. Andy had gotten permission to stay with Albert at the Ingalls', so the adults were free to discuss the strange happenings concerning Carrie's sudden change in attitude as they liked.

Laura asked in wonderment, "What could've changed? She's been unreachable for almost a month!"

"Adam, you're the expert here." Almonzo pointed out. "What's your opinion?"

Laura heard Adam's disguised, breathy laugh from beside her. He said nothing though, until Mary asked, "What is it?", from his other side

"Oh, nothing." he answered vaguely, but Laura could see he was trying not to laugh.

"What?" Laura and her sister both pressed him for an answer.

"Figure it out yourself. By the way, Jonathan, is there anything in the immediate future that Andy has to be in Mankato for?"

"Not since he graduated, no." Jonathan answered. "Why?"

"He was a real help to me and Carrie today. I still seriously doubt that she's going to put up with me teaching her. I'm not exactly known for being nice and sweet-tempered about it."

"It's not like your mean about it." Mary said, then added as an afterthought, "Usually."

"Anyway," Adam continued. "I was wondering if he could stay behind and help me more, let me be a wingman on this one."

"Sure. Of course. If he's on board with it, I don't have a problem with it."

"Wonderful." Adam sat back in his chair as if it were all decided, but Laura was still puzzling over Carrie's behavior.

She was drawn from her thoughts by the sight of Rachel Oleson walking by in the hallway, arm in arm with her husband, Willie. She had dressed up for no other reason then to go to Nellie's restaurant with him.

Laura smiled and called out, "You look real nice, Rachel. It's nice to see you dressing up more often."

Rachel smiled her thanks and said, "I have to look civil for my man, I guess."

Laura laughed as the semi-newly-weds walked away. She sat up straight in her chair as a thought came to mind. Civil for a man?

"What's wrong?" Almonzo asked.

I think I just figured those two out." Laura said thoughtfully.

"You have no idea." Adam laughed.

"Do you think he'll stick with it?" Laura asked point-blank, thinking of Seth Barton.

Adam nodded thoughtfully. "I think they're not quite sure what their doing yet. But they'll get there. And when he does, he'll stay. I n my honest opinion, I think she'll be the problem. She'll think he deserves better."

Laura couldn't help but smile as she registered the looks on the faces of her companions as they realized what was meant and implied.

"Well this is going to be interesting." Almonzo said.


	6. Chapter 6

Jonathan Garvey walked with Adam and Charles from the Ingalls' barn towards their cabin. They were all headed into the house to eat breakfast before Jonathan left. The house was filled to the brim with its usual occupants plus the Wilders, Kendalls, and Garveys.

"Charles," Caroline requested, looking at her shelf of seasonings and staple ingredients held in wooden canisters. "Can you come and look at this?"

Charles stepped over towards his wife. "Yeah, Darlin'?" He ran his fingers over something on one of the canisters, gazing in amazement at the lot of them. "What on earth? Wait a second. Hey, Adam, come here."

Jonathan watched as Adam wove his way towards his father-in-law to examine the canisters. So far as Jonathan could tell from where he stood, the things were the same as they had been yesterday, but Adam and the others had definitely found something of interest on them.

"Is that-" Charles started.

"Braille." Adam confirmed.

Jonathan arched his eyebrows and stepped forward to see for himself. Someone had drilled holes in the canisters and plugged the holes with pegs that had engravings on them, and, according to the pegs' positions, a Braille word was formed. The engraving on each peg was a flower, and crossing the canisters to "connect" the pegs were more engravings, these of vines with the occasional leaf. What on earth indeed!

The pegs are set as Braille?" Charles asked.

"Yes." Adam confirmed. "The flowers are to make it less obvious, I guess. Practical and pretty."

"They're beautiful." Caroline said. "I like them. But they weren't like this yesterday. Someone worked on these all night long."

Now Jonathan looked a little closer at the carvings. He thought he recognized the work. Yes, he was right. The night's previous conversation was doing cartwheels in his head as he looked at his son's work.


	7. Chapter 7

"I don't know about this, Andy. There are so many people down there." Carrie whimpered.

They were alone in the loft where he had been trying to convince her to come down and be sociable. So far he had had no luck.

"Come on." He pushed. "I want to see what Pa said about me staying here to help. This is your family, that's it. They love you no matter what, remember?"

"Then you go on down. I'll be fine."

"I know you will, because you are coming downstairs if I have to carry you."

"You wouldn't." Remembering the side of the usually docile Andy Garvey that she had seen yesterday, Carrie replied to her own comment, "Wait; yes you would."

She heard one of the boys coming up the ladder and heard Albert say, "Come on, lovebirds. Ma says breakfast is ready and getting cold."

"Lovebirds!" Andy's voice came out an octave higher than it should have. "We are not-"

"Don't even try it on me." Albert interrupted. "I was up all night helping you with those canisters for Carrie."

"They're just as much for Mary." Carrie listened to Andy's defense as she went slowly down the loft ladder with the boys' right in front of her.

As Albert and Andy's feet hit the floor with twin "bangs!" Albert pointed out, " _Mary_ doesn't live here;  _Carrie_ does."

"The children will have to eat outside." Pa declared over the general din.

Again, Andy had a defense against Albert's opinion. "Carrie mentioned how difficult it would be since they were all the same. I was just trying to help her out. After all, I am her teacher."

"That's my point." Albert crowed before Carrie heard the door slam behind him, as if her oldest brother had wanted to add an extra exclamation point to his statement.

Someone laid a hand on Carrie's shoulder and Mary leaned in to whisper to her, "You know, Charlotte Gray said, 'You can fool the world, but not your-"

"Sister. I know." It seemed like a world away since Andy had told her that yesterday.

"Brothers aren't too oblivious either, apparently." Mary observed.

"Especially not this one." Adam spoke up from Carrie's other side.

"You had me help her on purpose?" Andy asked from what sounded like beside Mary.

"Trust me," Adam answered cheerfully. "I know exactly what I'm doing."

As Carrie managed to fill her plate, she heard Andy mutter from in front of her, "That's what I'm afraid of."

Her task completed, Carrie stood uncertainly out of the way. She hadn't been outside since the accident, and she was a little leery to try it.

"Are you coming, Carrie?" Cassandra asked hopefully.

Carrie shook her head and started towards Ma's rocking chair.

"Yes you are." Andy told her forcefully. "You're nothing special."

"I'm not?" She asked, trying her best to appear clueless.

"No. Well, yes, but no. What I mean is that you're not an exception to the rules. Even if you are special."

Carrie couldn't help smiling, because, even though she couldn't see him, she was certain that he was beet red.

As she followed Andy outside into the sunshine, she heard Adam remark, "I'm impressed. It took Mary at least a few weeks to think that one up."

She giggled. All traces of her sour mood gone, Carrie felt Andy slide his hand into hers as soon as the door had closed behind them. She tilted her face up to the sun that she couldn't see, loving its warmth no her skin and that of Andy's closeness to her. She felt all of her misgivings and hesitancies slip away as she stood there. She heard birds singing and the laughter if her family and friends, and, for the first time in what felt like forever, a sigh of contentment, and, she would admit, possibly a bizarre touch of desire, escaped her lips.

From the there on out, the days sped by, rapid and sweet, and she was happy.

April, May, and June all flew by in an ironic succession of slow, lazy-feeling days. At first, Carrie filled them with learning to test her limits and expand her horizons, getting back every ounce of independence that she had had before the accident. By the end of June she had overcome it all, largely in part because of their three visitors.

Even so, not a one of the trio showed any inclination to leave. Adam and Mary seemed to be waiting on something, though Carrie didn't dare guess what, and Andy – she didn't have to guess what he was staying for – was there for her. Although it was hardly public knowledge, they had begun courting in the beginning of May, amid many I-told-you-sos from family members.

 


	8. Chapter 8

As the humid air of July blew into the prairie, Andy sat down to breakfast at the boarding house with the other boarders and the Wilders.

After passing around the food, Almanzo addressed Adam, asking, "So how long are you all planning on staying around?"

Andy knew that the whole town had been curious as to the answer to that question since Adam had started offering his services as a lawyer to the town's people once again. But then again, the same question had been raised when Andy had taken a job at the mill for himself.

He felt lower than low for next to hiding the fact that he was courting Carrie. She deserved better than that.

Andy pulled himself out of his thoughts in time to hear Adam answer, "Until Andy goes to the post office."

Andy started at the odd answer. "Uh, if there's something you need me to drop off there, I can take it by on my way to work."

"That's not what I mean." Adam sighed as Mary held back a laugh.

"Why don't you walk with him to the mill and tell him as you go?" Mary suggested.

Adam and Andy both agreed, so Andy found himself listening to the story of what he thought had to be the most pathetic proposal to date, post office excuse and all. Then he realized what Adam had meant by his earlier comment.

Andy laughed, "You guys are good."

"What? Why?" Adam asked.

Andy stuffed his hands deep into his pockets, most of the apprehension he thought he had done away with returning with a sickening vengeance. "I'm eating dinner with the Ingalls tonight… and I was kinda thinking, planning on… that is… I mean… I-I'm going to – do it. Propose, I mean." He took a deep breath, and said more for himself than for Adam, "Tonight, I'm going to ask Carrie to marry me."

Somehow during the course of the day, the plans changed and the Ingalls ended up coming to the boarding house to eat. Andy was willing to bet that Adam was behind the change.

It was all Andy could do to stay calm and collected as the night progressed. Not when he felt as though his life as he knew it was going to be forever altered by night's end.

As the women wove their way through the house, going here and there getting the food ready, Carrie was right in the middle of it all. Andy followed her with his eyes the entire time. He couldn't help himself. She wasn't particularly dressed up, but her smile and laughter were undoubtedly the brightest things in the house.

Yeah, he was sunk. No doubt about it. Caught. Too far gone to come back, or even want to. Carrie had him, hook, line, and sinker.

The meal came and went, and the men adjourned to the sitting room. By the time the women came in, most of the boarders had disappeared, but Willie and Rachel had stayed put. They sensed that something was going on. Andy was sure that all the family did.

Grand. No pressure there.


	9. Chapter 9

Caroline could tell that Andy was nervous. He had been all night. Her suspicions as to why were semi-confirmed when he asked Carrie to go on a walk with him.

"Just for a lap around the house." He promised.

Caroline's daughter agreed very readily.

Once they were out the door, Caroline eased up from her rocker and went to look out the window towards them. Adam was right behind her, and she was now certain that he knew something she didn't. As Carrie and Andy left her line of sight, she almost asked Adam what that something was. She refrained though. If it was something that she needed to know, she would find out soon enough.

By the time the love struck duo reappeared, they seemed to be in the middle of a deep discussion. Adam propped the window open a very little bit so that he and Caroline could hear what they were saying.

"You're sure?" Carrie asked. "There are a lot of better girls."

"Maybe you think so, but not one of them is my girl. You are, and that makes you the best, by my way of thinking. Come on, Carrie, please say 'yes'."

Carrie beamed. "Yes."

Caroline whirled around to face the room full of family and friends, smiling broadly, with laughter bubbling up inside of her,

"Mary," She told her eldest. "I think you may have started a trend."

"He asked her?" Charles inquired.

Caroline nodded, feeling as giddy as a school girl. "It sounds like it."

Before anything more could be said on the subject, Carrie and Andy burst into the house, merrily exclaiming their happy news.

Caroline went to Charles and wrapped her arms around his waist.

He rolled his eyes towards the ceiling, moaning, "Come on, God, all I asked for was that you let me keep one of my girls. We're running out of options, you know."

Caroline burst out laughing at her husband's antics.


	10. Chapter 10

The room was crowded with people, and with all the noisy excitement, Carrie was feeling a little trapped. She told Andy she was going to step back outside a minute for some fresh air and then headed in that direction. She kept getting jostled, bumped, and ran into as she went though.

After one particularly hard bump, she stumbled, falling over one of Rose's toys. She went down, slamming her head forcefully on the table. There was a flash of brilliant light and then she went unconscious.

* * *

The first thing she registered when she awoke was softness. Someone had put her in bed, and she was wearing a nightgown. The second thing she comprehended was voices. Jonathan and Adam were talking above her.

Jonathan? Wait, that was what he was explaining to Adam. He had had a delivery to the mercantile and when he heard the news, he had come right over.

Carrie mumbled sleepily, trying to convince her unfocused brain to clear up. The men stopped talking and she could hear their footsteps bringing them closer to her bed,

"Hey, sleepyhead." Jonathan greeted her. "How are you feeling? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Sick to your stomach? How many fingers am I holding up? Oh wait-"

Remembering the bright flash of light before she had blacked out, Carrie's eyes flew open and she practically screamed the answer, "Two!"

Jonathan blinked in surprise at the correct answer and Adam looked at her with ever-widening eyes.

She continued excitedly, "And your wearing a red checked shirt with tan pants and suspenders and holding a brown hat in your right hand!"

Adam flew down out of the loft, screaming for Andy and her parents. Carrie sat back against her headboard, laughing almost like a maniac. The irony of Jonathan being there wasn't lost on her either.

Andy skittered up the rungs of the ladder, yelling her name quite unnecessarily.

"Andy, I can see! I can see you! Your bride can see!"


	11. Epilogue

Carrie twisted from side to side, making her blue wedding dress fan out around her ankles.

"Carrie, you look beautiful!" Cassandra gushed.

"Do you really think so?" Carrie asked, fingering the sapphire necklace she was wearing. A gift from Jonathan and Andy, it had been Alice's.

"Of course." Pa answered from the doorway, having overheard the question. "And besides, if Andy's half as smitten with you as I think he is, he won't care about the dress. He'll be too busy looking into those big, bright eyes of yours."


End file.
